sell old PB for new PB?

[MacsomJRR]

Ok I have a dilema...

I'm just about to start graduate school and I've been thinking about upgrading my 1 ghz 15" powerbook to a newer 1.5 ghz 12" model. My reasons for upgrading are as follows.

1. Improved battery life from the smaller powerbook. My 15" currently last about 1 1/2 hours with a full charge which means constantly worrying about the battery during lectures etc...

2. The newer Al PB's seem to be much studier than the older TiBooks and I'm sick of worrying about my 15" knocking against my books in my backpack. The screen is just too flimsy and the fact that the keys rub off on the screen is just plain annoying.

3. Smaller size equals less weight and less of a "space hog" on a desk.

My questions are pretty simple. Is it worth it? Would you do it? Is there anything that the little PB can't do that mine can????

I know that we are expecting a PB update soon with the Intel chips but I've heard that the speed bump will be minimal. Is there any features I should think about holding out for that will be in the new PBs?

Thanks for any help you can offer. MAC's RULE!

 

[wako]

Ok I have a dilema...

I'm just about to start graduate school and I've been thinking about upgrading my 1 ghz 15" powerbook to a newer 1.5 ghz 12" model. My reasons for upgrading are as follows.

1. Improved battery life from the smaller powerbook. My 15" currently last about 1 1/2 hours with a full charge which means constantly worrying about the battery during lectures etc...

2. The newer Al PB's seem to be much studier than the older TiBooks and I'm sick of worrying about my 15" knocking against my books in my backpack. The screen is just too flimsy and the fact that the keys rub off on the screen is just plain annoying.

3. Smaller size equals less weight and less of a "space hog" on a desk.

My questions are pretty simple. Is it worth it? Would you do it? Is there anything that the little PB can't do that mine can????

I know that we are expecting a PB update soon with the Intel chips but I've heard that the speed bump will be minimal. Is there any features I should think about holding out for that will be in the new PBs?

Thanks for any help you can offer. MAC's RULE!

Definately


Seeing how people are actually willing to pay 900+ for that PB (saying its in good condition though) You would just be upgradeing for a fraction of the price.

 

[MacsomJRR]

It's in good/great condition. The trackpad is pretty worndown and there are some minor scratches on the top that are barely noticable but otherwise it's solid. No cracks or chips. No dead pixels. It sucks because aesthetically its a gorgeous laptop (better looking than the aluminums IMO) but it's just not tough enough for school. Much better sitting on a desk with the occasional move.

I've treated this laptop very well during my time with it though

 

[bodeh6]

I would try to wait for about a month or so until the Paris Expo to see if there will be any updates to the Powerbook. The 12" needs it most right now. Surely they will upgrade the GPU to either the Radeon 9550/9600/9700 with 64MB and probably bump the processor to the 1.67GHZ while the top of the line 15" and 17" get probably a 1.8GHz. Also the new Powerbook will likely have better RAM configuration as currently it is behind the current iBook in that respect.

 

[wako]

I personally think you should try to sell your PB as soon as possible though. The longer you wait, the less money you will get back on the sale.

 

[pna]

You should definitely be able to get $900 or so for it. I just recently sold an 867 mhz tiBook with superdrive and fairly new battery for $850, and had plenty of interest at that level. And frankly, it was in pretty rough shape -- the marks on the screen, the paint was all chipped, and the guy that I had bought it from had dropped it *hard* on something.

To be honest, though, I think I'd likely pick a 15" 1 ghz tibook like you have over a 12" 1.5 ghz aluminum powerbook. The screen size makes a huge difference in terms of productivity, and it's not even that much heavier -- the tiBooks are lighter than the equivalent aluminum powerbooks.

In terms of battery life, I got much better battery life with the tiBook than I do with my 1.25 ghz alBook, both 15" sizes. With a battery that was over a year old, the tiBook would get about 4 hours of real world usage. My aluBook with a brand new battery gets about 3:15 of real world usage -- not a pleasant downgrade. I hardly notice the difference in cpu speed running tiger.

So the question is, is it worth $600 to you to

get a smaller screen (albeit, one that has no marks)
gain a marginal amount of portability
get another year of warranty with potential for 2 more
get a slightly faster hard drive
upgrade your wireless connection from airport to extreme

It'd be a tossup in my opinion. I disagree that the tiBooks are flimsy, and if I didn't have a good laptop bag, I'd still be concerned about books bonking into my alubook. $40 max for a robust sleeve for your laptop. $129 for a new battery.

Tough call. I'd definitely try running your tiBook at 1024x768 for a while (crappy as it may look on that screen) and see how you feel about the more restricted space. It's fine for many, but for someone that's used to the larger screen, it may be tough to get used to. If I were to make this switch, I'd probably be more likely to wait and find someone selling a 12" aluminum powerbook that was still within warranty for $1000 or so, and pick up applecare on it.

good luck -- it would be hard to go wrong with either option.

 

[MacsomJRR]

thanks for all the opinions!

After much personal debate I've decided to wait. I don't think the resell value of this powerbook (the tibook 1ghz 15") will drop too much before the next pb revision and after thinking about the lack of screen real estate I figure a new 15" might be a better choice. I played around with a 12" in the nearby apple store for awhile yesterday and it was just slightly too small. After using my g/f's new Dell 700m with the wide screen the square 12" pb screen looks kinda plain. Plus I'm used to the 15" widescreen now

Now I bet the new revisions are going to be way more expensive

 

[bodeh6]

The 15" PB has about ~39% more screen space to work with then the iBook series and the 12" Powerbook. If I had the money to spend, I would have gotten a 15" PB. But I figure that the 14" iBook at half the cost of the 15" Powerbook will survive the 3 years I have in College and beyond. When I get a real job after school, I will probably get a 15" PB and a Dell 2405FWP.

 

[faintember]

MacsomJRR-

I have the same Ti PB and have just decided to upgrade it (bump the ram to 1 gig and buy an 100 gig external hd) instead of buying a 17" PB. I love my Ti, and there is no way i would part with it for a 12", not even if i traded my Ti for the 12" Al, and got $200 in the process. I want to get a good few more years out of my PB, then with the rev b Macintels i will buy a new PB.

Just buy a nice laptop bag and/or sleeve and a new battery as another poster suggested. You may want to upgrade your ram if you haven't (btw i am getting my 2x512mb sticks for under $200).

Glad you decided to keep your Ti.